My son just turned 1 year old this past week and I have been trying to slowly get him to give up his bottle. He's been very early on everything so far - crawling, walking (9 months) and teeth at 3 months. He never really liked pacifiers and refused them by 6 months and really his only "security" item is the bottles. I try to give him milk/formula in a sippy cup and he throws it on the floor and has an absolute meltdown. And he won't stop whining/crying for literally up to an hour if he doesn't get his bottle. By that time my nerves are shot and I give in.
I guess I don't think it's terrible to let him have a bottle for another few months but I was told that most kids his age in day care (I'm a stay at home mom ) are off the bottle by 1.
Any suggestions? Opinions? Advice?
Try teaching him to use a straw cup instead of a sippy. This worked much better for us, I think maybe because they still suck to get the liquid. The inexpensive Take-n-Toss brand are my girls favorite. It may take a little while for him to get the hang of it, so just keep trying.
I did this 3 times and it worked 100%... all 3 times ;)
Take ALLLLLL the bottles and throw them out. Right now!
Your kiddo will be pretty mad for the first day, a little mad the 2nd day, and then totally over it in about 5-7 days. Take your son with you to go pick out some cool sippy cups ;)
If he wants the bottle for another 6 months it won't hurt him. Bottle rot is from laying the kids in bed with a bottle in their mouth and it staying there all night dripping milk onto their little teeth. It doesn't allow the saliva to rinse the mouth out and the milk just eats away at the teeth.
If you brush his teeth and don't let him HOLD the bottle in his mouth all night then he can take a bottle as long as he wants it.
Think about it. We drink milk, coffee, pop, all kinds of stuff, don't run brush our teeth after every drink or bite of food all day long. And we don't get bottle rot. A drink is a drink is a drink whether it comes from a bottle or a tippy cup or a coffee cup.
When he is ready he'll hand over the bottle and be done.
Are you using the sippy cup when your son is ready to go down for a nap or bedtime? If so, when he's tired may not be the best time to introduce it. In our case, we introduced the sippy cup at meals and used his bottles for bedtime and nap until we felt that he was proficient with it. The we started adding it in at snacks and eventually took away one bottle at nap, and then finally the bedtime bottle. It took about 2-3 months for this all to happen, and now my little guy is a champ with it.
I was advised by my pediatrician to introduce sippy cup with water at 6m then switch milk to the identical sippy cup after the 1st bday. My favorites, dr.brown and born free sippy cups. Introduce the milk in sippy cup with the snack or meal at the table, when his is happy. Please keep me posted.
I'm guessing that he's your first child cos for some reason we are all super eager for our first to grow up ... and then want to keep our last from growing up too fast! :) My son never wanted a pacifier at all but kept going to sleep with his bottle until he was about 3 years old! Now, before everyone is horrified, let me add that he was perfectly capable of eating food and drinking out of a sippy cup - he only had 1 bottle of formula or herbal tea (no sugar!) at bedtime. This is the same little boy who (at age 2) decided that nappies were for babies and never had a single accident! That episode taught me that he knew best what was right for him. My son is 18 years old now and having had a bottle for longer than "politically correct" has not harmed him in any way! Trust your (and your child's) instincts and you won't go wrong. Before long this won't be an issue any more. Good luck! :)
You'll get all sorts of opinions... mine is that there is no reason at all for children to be weaned off of bottles by one year old. Seriously, what value does it add? My girls had four bottles a day at age one, three by 15 months, they were down to two by 18 months and we weaned off the last by the time they were two. And they're perfectly healthy and normal kids now at age 4.
So I say that if your son still wants a bottle at age one, give it to him! He's not in day care where it's easier for the care givers to hand over a cup rather than hold a baby and feed him a bottle.
my son was the same way..he used to try to steal bottles from babies at the park when he'd see them drinking from them..he also did not like paci's..the sippy cups he liked were the take and toss ones..he's 5 and i still give him his drinks in those b/c i got tired of all the spilling..try those..if u really have trouble..give him some ovalteen in the the sippy cup..chocolate milk ..just make the milk in the cup better and give him a slow flow nipple on the bottle..maybe even stuff it up so its harder to get milk from the bottle than the cup..jeez i still remember that stuff..just go with the flow..its ok to keep drinking from a bottle..my son's teeth are not screwy from going past a year..he might have gone to 2 years still having a bottle here and there..
oh and i was able to wean better when we were on the go a lot..so get busy w/ him if u can..just try to get him out of the house and only bring the sippy cup..if he cries and throws a fit..hug him and just say..this is a big boy cup...let him even see u drink from one..
we were so busy my son was more preoccupied w/ what was going on around us to care if he had a bottle or cup..
you can wash the take and toss sippy cups and reuse them..i get them at Target
It seems to me that there is no rush. You say that most kids his age that are in day care are off the bottle. That bears no reflection of what is normal for all children, just those who are in day care.
Personally I believe there is no reason for him to give up bottles by age 1. It is their comfort just like all the babies who breastfeed get comfort from nursing. Most people I know breastfeed till 2 or 2.5 years old. When my son was 2.5 years old we talked about it and he agreed to give all his bottles to a baby. When he was ready we delivered them to a baby friend he knew and he got to go to the store and pick out a big boy toy. He missed his bottles for about 3 days but then was fine. For me it was good to just get them all out of the house and then I could not give in! I will do the same thing with my daughter (who is 22 months right now). My son was much much more ready then and able to comfort himself and it went pretty smoothly I thought. He never had any teeth problems and to this day has great teeth. I will add that he was not allowed to just carry a bottle around all day long. If I remember right he weaned him down to one bottle in the morning, one at nap time and one at bedtime. Then we gave up the morning bottle. Our daughter right now just has a bottle at naptime and another at bedtime...but she is almost an entire year older than your son. It was a gradual weaning away of bottles. Anyway, this give up the bottle at age 1 is not a hard and fast rule and your child will be just fine if he enjoys his bottles of milk for a longer period of time. To your baby it is the same comfort sucking as other babies get from nursing...it relaxes them.
My daughter used the bottle until she was 2. We went straight to cups and straws. She did not have it when she went to sleep. I did not see this as a big deal. It was only how she got her milk. She didn't carry it around all day. Her teeth and everything are fine. Just let it be.
I think you would be perfectly fine to wean him over the next few months. My pediatrician said mine needed to be completely off by 15 months, not 12.
Bottom line is you are his mom and if you think he needs a little more time, then that is perfectly fine. Granted, you don't want him on the bottle too late, but I think if you start gradually weaning him now, by 15 months he'll be better about it. I saw a big maturity difference in my daughter between 12-15 months.
My son (now 17) used to love his bottle too. I remember him having water bottles. Try introducing water bottles to your son, in addition to the milk. That way you can introduce the milk in a sippy cup at the same time reducing the milk bottles. As he becomes used to drinking his milk in the sippy cup, you can reduce the number of bottles he has.
